Fact Check: Bellator 101

Joe
Warren has fought only once in the last 18 months. | Photo: Dave
Mandel/Sherdog.com

If success in mixed martial arts depended solely on confidence,
Joe
Warren’s exploits would be unrivaled.

The self-professed “Baddest Man on the Planet” will lock horns with
Nick
Kirk in the Bellator
MMA Season 9 bantamweight tournament semifinals at Bellator
101 on Friday at the Moda Center in Portland, Ore. The event,
which airs on Spike TV, will also feature the opening round in the
promotion’s latest eight-man lightweight draw.

Warren last appeared at Bellator 80 in November, when he cruised to
a unanimous decision over the outmatched Owen
Evinger at the Seminole Hard Rock Hotel and Casino in
Hollywood, Fla. The performance came on the heels of back-to-back
horrific knockout losses to Alexis Vila
and Pat
Curran that had some calling for Warren to retire. A decorated
amateur wrestler, the 36-year-old transitioned to MMA in 2009. His
resume includes wins over former
World Extreme Cagefighting titleholder Chase Beebe,
onetime K-1 Hero’s grand prix winner Norifumi
Yamamoto,
Team Nogueira’s Patricio
Freire and two-time Brazilian jiu-jitsu world champion Marcos
Galvao. Warren has compiled a 6-2 mark in Bellator.

The twice-beaten Kirk last fought at an Impact Fighting
Championship event in April, when he submitted Ben Miller
with a second-round triangle choke at the Bismarck Civic Center in
Bismarck, N.D. Nicknamed “The Big Hurt,” the 30-year-old has yet to
taste victory inside the Bellator cage, having dropped decisions to
David
Harris and Tony
Zelinski. Kirk trains under Greg Nelson at The Academy -- the
same respected Minnesota camp that oversaw the careers of former
Ultimate Fighting Championship lightweight titleholder Sean Sherk and
onetime UFC heavyweight boss Brock
Lesnar.

With the Warren-Kirk semifinal on the marquee, here are 10 facts
surrounding Bellator 101:

FACT 1: Warren was an NCAA All-American at the
University of Michigan and went on to win three national titles and
a world championship in Greco-Roman wrestling.

FACT 2: Kirk has gone the distance eight times in
12 appearances.

FACT 3: Oregon will be the 20th state in which
Rich
Clementi has fought during his 68-bout professional career,
along with Rhode Island, Pennsylvania, Nevada, Massachusetts,
Texas, Kansas, Louisiana, Wisconsin, New Mexico, Oklahoma, Alabama,
Florida, Illinois, California, New Jersey, Iowa, Mississippi,
Indiana and Virginia. He has also competed in four foreign
countries (Canada, Japan, Sweden and Northern Ireland) and one
United States territory (Guam).

FACT 4:John Alessio
fought Pat Miletich
for the UFC welterweight crown in June 2000 and challenged Carlos
Condit for his WEC 170-pound title seven years later, losing
both by second-round submission.

FACT 5: Russian lightweight prospect Alexander
Sarnavskiy has finished 16 opponents inside one round, five of
them in less than a minute.